Glyphland

Friday, January 11, 2008

Mealer. I have been remiss in not mentioning the tragedy that befell Elliot Mealer and his family over Christmas. Mealer's father and girlfriend died in a car accident and his brother is unlikely to walk again; Mealer escaped without serious physical damage, but... yeah. Brock, Elliot's brother, has been moved to UM's hospital. The Diagswiped a post from GBW's premium boards and I'll swipe it from there:

Elliott has a torn rotator cuff. He is obviously done playing hoops this season. Brock (his brother who is currently paralyzed from the accident) has been moved to the UM Hospital. What he needs and the family needs at this time is encouragement and support. If you are so inclined, I believe it would be a huge boost for you to let him know you are rooting for him. Please send cards, letters to

When you address the envelope write in the lower left hand corner of the envelope: Brock MealerUHA 6117

As always, please continue to pray. When a member of our Michigan family or a family member of the Michigan family is down and out, I hope we can all come together and do what we can to help. the family needs as much support at this time as it can get. Thank you.

Not only did Smith decide to leave home, but he reportedly gave up a significant promotion at West Virginia. Smith would not comment on any jobs offered to him by new WVU coach Bill Stewart, but the Charleston Gazette reported - and I was told by another source - that he was in line to become the Mountaineers' offensive coordinator. With WVU's spread offense, that's like being handed the keys to a Stealth Fighter. Not to mention the fact that being a coordinator at a Top 10 program is a stepping-stone to a head-coaching job.

So strong was the allure of Rodriguez and Michigan that Smith turned down Stewart, whom he admires.

Erroneous caps sic. No go and secureth the services of one Terrelle Pryor, my son.

A preseason favorite for the BCS title, West Virginia was poised to qualify for the BCS Championship Game, needing only to beat 28-point underdog Pittsburgh in its final game, at home yet. The Mountaineers lost. We now know that in the days leading up to this huge upset, West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez was negotiating for the Michigan job -- that is, was furiously engaged in stabbing his school in the back. The West Virginia team played very poorly in a game staged as the coach was working behind the scenes to shaft the school. Strange coincidence? As soon as Rodriguez the Weasel was out the door, the Mountaineers looked great in the Fiesta Bowl under emergency coach Bill Stewart, who turned out to have some appealing qualities: a charming smile and not being a liar. After the Fiesta Bowl performance, we know West Virginia might have been national champion, had Rodriguez not betrayed those who trusted him. University of Michigan, you hired a coach who, given the choice between honor and money, did not hesitate for one instant to choose money. And the reason you think he will behave differently for you is … ?

What a dick. It's one thing to express the opinion that Rodriguez's sudden change from "I will be here for a billion years" after the 'Bama thing to "bye" is not particularly confidence-inspiring. (Though it is kind of odd that the general anger and disgust from WVU fans and axe-grinders seems ratcheted up a notch because he turned 'Bama down a year ago; would he get this much heat if he had gone to Tuscaloosa? Absolutely not.) It's another entirely to make baseless accusations in an attempt to paint Rodriguez as purest villain.

There is not a single shred of evidence that Rich Rodriguez was conversing with Michigan before the Pitt game. At no time did anyone inside or outside the program mention his name as a possibility until the Sporting News reported on December 14th that Rodriguez and Michigan were meeting in Toledo. That's almost two weeks after the Pitt game, which was December 1st. I do not remember a nationwide ban on phone calls in early December.

Scenario A: Rodriguez -- who doesn't care even a little bit about maybe winning a national title -- and Michigan secretly begin talks before the Pitt game. No insider gets wind of this and no one reports it during a period of time in which Michigan's athletic department was leaking like a sieve. He then spends every waking hour thinking about the Michigan job, thereby sabotaging WVU's preparations.

Scenario B: Michigan contacts Rodriguez in the thirteen days between the Pitt loss and the first meeting using a "telephone."

Scenario A is so unlikely that it would be dismissed by anyone except Easterbrook, who's the kind of pundit who will cram any available evidence into his extant theories no matter how square the peg and round the hole. See the next paragraph, which blames June Jones' SMU departure for Hawaii's crappy performance in the Sugar Bowl when everyone who was paying even a little attention knew it was because Hawaii was the sort of team that scrapes by Louisiana Tech by one point. Also see the above paragraph, which neglects entirely to mention that the main reason West Virginia won the Fiesta Bowl, Pat White, was on the sidelines for the Pitt game. Attention, Gregg Easterbrook: there is this thing called "gray." It is between "black" and "white." The actions of many people from writers to football coaches fall in this category.

The irony of calling coaches "liars" and "weasels" in a set of grafs full of unsupported accusations and obvious misrepresentations evidently escapes Easterbrook. He should probably stick to what he's good at: being creepy about cheerleaders.